Nick Kristof writes today:

After 9/11, China declared its own war on terror in Xinjiang, but Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented that this often has targeted Uighurs who are completely nonviolent.

Unfortunately, the Bush administration has largely backed this Chinese version of the war on terror. Indeed, a Department of Justice report this month suggests that American troops softened up Uighur prisoners in Guantánamo Bay on behalf of visiting Chinese interrogators. The American troops starved the Uighurs and prevented them from sleeping, just before inviting in the Chinese interrogators.

So, let me get this right — the Chinese are now outsourcing torture to the U.S.?

Worth a watch:

For years, psychotherapists have worked to relieve suffering by reframing the content of patients’ thoughts, directly altering behavior or helping people gain insight into the subconscious sources of their despair and anxiety. The promise of mindfulness meditation is that it can help patients endure flash floods of emotion during the therapeutic process — and ultimately alter reactions to daily experience at a level that words cannot reach. “The interest in this has just taken off,” said Zindel Segal, a psychologist at the Center of Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, where the above group therapy session was taped. “And I think a big part of it is that more and more therapists are practicing some form of contemplation themselves and want to bring that into therapy.”

(Mindfulness Meditation, Based on Buddha’s Teachings, Gains Ground With Therapists - NYTimes.com)

This is a good overview of the history and current state of mindfulness in therapeutic practice. It gives a fair showing both to the proponents of mindfulness as part of therapy and to those who are skeptical.

A few days back, as soon as it was available, I downloaded Firefox 3 Release Candidate 1. It’s substantially similar to Firefox 2, naturally, but with some new and welcome features.

It has an automatically generated list of “most visited” page, which I’ve found very handy for getting back to pages that I’m visiting often — for example the competition I’m running on 99designs.com, which runs for only a week and is hardly work bookmarking.

It also has a great address/searchbar which looks for pages whose titles or URLs match the search term you type in. For example, the other day I read an article about Charles Lindbergh on the BBC News website. To find it again by trawling through my history would be tedious. To find it in the address bar all I had to do was to start typing in “Lindbergh,” and all three pages I’d recently consulted on that topic appeared. Apparently Firefox draws on three months of browsing history, which should be plenty.

It’s also very fast. They say it’s twice as fast as Firefox 2, although I’ve no way of checking.

So far only one of the plugins I use has been updated to work with the new version, but that’s OK. RC1 is a sneak preview of a forthcoming product, not a finished work.

Microsoft has a new browser coming as well, but Internet Explorer’s market share has been declining steadily over the years. According to the NYT, Internet Explorer is used by 75% of computer owners, but on my own websites I see only 57% of visitors using that browser. Perhaps the language is misleading; that “75% of computer owners” includes me, since I technically have IE6 and IE7 running on a virtual version of Windows XP on my computer, but in fact I only ever use those programs for how well my sites hold up across different browsers. I have IE on my computer, but in practical terms I’m a Firefox user. When I browse using my iPod Touch, I’m a Safari user. There are no doubt many other people in a similar situation.

This is one of the most shocking things I have ever seen — the “stowage” arrangements for the “cargo” on a British slaving ship.

Ghastly.

A Cambodian Buddhist blogger writes about how Christians in his country are trying to bribe locals to adopt their religion, and how they even successfully had the subtitles to The Davinci Code censored, despite being a tiny minority in Cambodia.

Dan Sarkipato has a looooooooooong post on Ekhart Tolle and Oprah Winfrey, and why their message is unChristian. Fair enough! (I got bored and started skimming about 1/4 of the way down the post.) I’ve found some useful stuff in Tolle’s “The Power of Now” but some of it strikes me as being simply flaky.

The Dalai Lama has been in Nottingham and Nemma was impressed.

Lt. Jeanette Shin, a Buddhist military chaplain, offers a beautiful Memorial Day reflection on impermanence. Gassho!

Barbara O’Brien has a shorter piece on Buddhists in the military, which also mentions Lt. Shin. I’ve been trying to get an interview out of Lt. Shin for months now, but haven’t had any luck so far.

I couldn’t watch the Nasa TV coverage of the Phoenix Landing because the site was swamped, but I did manage to tap into the audio feed and so I was able to follow the landing every step of the way. By the time touchdown was announced I was jumping up and down with excitement. Afterward I was so moved I literally couldn’t speak.

I’m in awe of the talented people who made this happen. There is still genius in America, and that genius still manages to make strides forward despite the cult of incompetence that the Bush administration has developed. (Putting a horse-show organizer in charge of FEMA. Rebuilding the levees with dirt. Rumsfeld chuckling about how the looting in Baghdad was just one guy with a vase being filmed over and over again. No planning for the period after the war, etc, etc, etc.) These Nasa people have vision and skill. Real skill.

The exploration of Mars is something that greatly excites me. It’s a fascinating planet and although we know infinitely more about it compared to the days prior to the Viking landings I still find the slow pace of discovery that robotic exploration dictates to be excruciating.

I get very emotionally invested in these little explorers. They’re our eyes and ears and fingers reaching into the unknown, on what are effectively suicide missions of discovery. Brings a lump to my throat.

The Phoenix lander apparently has only 90 days before the Martian winter sets in, and then it’ll be buried in something like three feet of dry ice. But before that it will — all going well — have drilled into the Martian regolith, sampled the ice that’s locked in there, and discovered who knows what. Analyzing water on Mars! Analyzing water on Mars! How cool is that?

Her name’s Liz Trotta. She is the former New York bureau chief of The Washington Times and is a contributor for FOX News Channel.

It’s a joke, so that makes it all right, eh?

I was very happy to hear this:

The European beaver is to be reintroduced to Scotland for the first time in more than 400 years, the Scottish Government has announced.

Environment Minister Michael Russell has given the go-ahead for up to four beaver families to be released in Knapdale, Argyll, on a trial basis.

Beavers to return after 400 years

Of course there’s extensive evidence that there are already beavers on the loose in Scotland, including gnawed trees, and (fairly convincing evidence this) dead beavers. But those unofficial reintroduction projects are not planned, since it’s likely that the animals are not in family groups. Kinda sad.

There also used to be wolves, bears, and moose (elk) in Scotland, but the reintroduction of those species is even more controversial. A lot of people have been against bringing back the beaver.

I had to remove my Twitter feed from the sidebar. Twitter, in case you don’t know, is a service that lets you write mini blog posts (140 characters or fewer). You can use them to post quick updates on what you’re doing and how you’re feeling. Other people can subscribe to your Twitter feeds, and you can post the feed in your blog. Or at least you’re supposed to be able to do that. Increasingly, Twitter had been slowing my blog until it basically wouldn’t load anything but the background and part of the sidebar.

This isn’t a new problem, and Remy Sharp’s post from 2007 shows, and Remy does offer a solution, so I hope to have the Twitter feed back in the sidebar soon. But it would be nice if Twitter fixed the problem at their end.

I remember seeing this on TV when I was a teenager. It’s still amazing.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton defended staying in the Democratic nominating contests Friday by saying that her husband did not wrap up the nomination until June 1992 and that, “We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.” (NY Times)

So Hillary’s main strategy at this point, given that it’s mathematically impossible for her to win the nomination, is to hope that her opponent gets assassinated.

I thought it was bad when her strategy seemed to be one of making sure that if she went down she’d take Obama with her so that she could have another shot in 2012, but she’s now sunk even lower.

When Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was causing trouble for King Henry II by objecting to Henry crowning his son while he, Henry, was still alive, the King was famously heard to say, “Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?” Four knights were within earshot. The deed was done.

For Hillary to speculate that Obama might be assassinated — for her indeed to pin her hopes for winning the nomination on his assassination — is to invite that execution of that very act.

This is the most outrageous thing I can recall any politician having said in modern times. The only honorable course now is that Hillary withdraw from the competition, and politics. The only remaining political activity she can legitimately engage in from this point on is doing whatever she can to encourage her supporters to back Obama.

So I’ve been pretty sick.

Sat: Sore throat.
Sun: Really bad sore throat.
Mon: Could barely talk.
Tues: Throat a bit better, voice returned, but starting to cough.
Wed: Coughing up great gobs of green mucus. Little appetite. Headache. Vomiting.
Thu: As Wednesday. Doc diagnoses “bad bronchitis.”
Fri: Staying in bed. Feeling happy to be doing nothing much.

I’m on antibiotics, antimucosals, a steroid nasal spray and antihistaminics (this is an insult — I insist that I have no allergies. Well, apart from insect bites and catgut suture, both of which make affected parts of my body swell up like spongy balloons).

I was supposed to be traveling to Colorado today to record four CDs (two sets of two) with the wonderful Sounds True company. I felt really bad having to call them to explain that I couldn’t come after all. They’d already paid for my airline ticket and hotel accommodation. Plus, rescheduling is bound to be a problem. They have been so nice about the whole thing. They really are a great company to work with. Or in this case, not to work with.

I’ve generally been hating being sick, but right now I’m at the time of day when I’ve coughed up most of the mucus that had accumulated in my lungs overnight, and it’s quite nice just to be sitting in bed (I’m banished to the basement so that I don’t infect Maia or keep her and Shrijnana awake) reading and blogging.

Although my standards have been so lowered by the current administration that I find myself believing that Hillary (lacking as she is in any moral integrity) would be a considerable step forward from what we have at the moment, I can’t share the view some people hold that John McCain would likewise be a better president than Bush. That, for me, is where “anyone but Bush” breaks down.

Apart from the obvious fact that Bush and McCain hold many policies in common, both men seem seriously out to lunch. Bush is notoriously prone to malapropisms and gaffes, and then there’s his now famous outburst that sounds like the rantings of a deranged despot:

“Kick Ass! If somebody tries to stop the march of democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!”

(Page 350 of “Wiser in Battle: A Soldier’s Story”, by LTG Ricardo S. Sanchez with Donald T. Phillips, Harper Collins)

This of course makes McCain’s “Bomb, bomb Iran” pale into insignificance, thereby undermining my case, but on the other hand the senator has an extensive track-record of being utterly clueless. Witness this helpful summation:

Then there’s his recent and embarrassing attempt to argue with a reporter about who is the ultimate arbiter of power in Iran — Ahmedinejad or Ayatollah Khameini (clue: the Ayatollah gets to pick who can run for office). McCain was just as clueless there as when he claimed that the Shia Iranians were training the Sunni Al Qaeda to go into Iraq, presumably to kill the Iranian’s Shia allies, which makes no sense even if you don’t think about it much. Or when he claimed that he was able to walk around in Baghdad without protection and without body armor when video footage shows him closely surrounded by US troops and wearing bulky body armor (although arguably that was a simple lie — akin to Hillary’s “sniper fire” pseudo-recollection — rather than him simply getting his facts mixed up).

Now I’m not one to argue that McCain is unfit to be president because he is too old — individual capacities at any given age vary enormously and there are people far older than McCain who have razor-sharp minds — but it strikes me as being quite possible that McCain is entering a phase of significantly diminished mental ability.

For those interested, there’s an entire site now devoted to Things younger than Republican Presidential candidate (oh, and did I forget to mention war hero?) John McCain. These include San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, penicillin, and Nylon.

I don’t often quote an entire post, but I agreed with Andrew Sullivan 100%:

The Clintons know no respect for rules or propriety or restraint in the pursuit of power. But Clinton’s latest speech in Florida should cause even veteran Clinton-hating jaws to drop some more:

Now, I know that Senator Obama chose to remove his name from the ballot in Michigan, and that was his right. But his choice does not negate the votes of all those who turned out to cast their ballots, and we should not let our process rob them and all of you of your voices. To do so would undermine the very purpose of the nominating process. To ensure that as many Democrats as possible can cast their votes. To ensure that the party selects a nominee who truly represents the will of the voters and to ensure that the Democrats take back the White House to rebuild America.

Now, I’ve heard some say that counting Florida and Michigan would be changing the rules.

I say that not counting Florida and Michigan is changing a central governing rule of this country - that whenever we can understand the clear intent of the voters, their votes should be counted. I remember very well back in 2000, there were those who argued that people’s votes should be discounted over technicalities. For the people of Florida who voted in this primary, the notion of discounting their votes sounds way too much of the same.

How do you respond to a sociopath like this? She agreed that Michigan and Florida should be punished for moving up their primaries. Obama took his name off the ballot in deference to their agreement and the rules of the party. That he should now be punished for playing by the rules and she should be rewarded for skirting them is unconscionable.

I think she has now made it very important that Obama not ask her to be the veep. The way she is losing is so ugly, so feckless, so riddled with narcissism and pathology that this kind of person should never be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

You know the really sad thing? It’s that in the current state of affairs i would consider that a person with as few principles as Hillary Clinton would actually be a pretty decent president. That’s how low my expectations have fallen. All due to the incumbent — now pretty much universally acknowledged to have been the worst president ever. I feel ashamed of myself!

Fascinating post by Emily Gould, formerly a blogger at Gawker.com, a gossipy, catty, media- and celebrity-obsessed site that I have the good fortune of only having read about.

She shows how the tendency to be inappropriately open on the internet can leave you exposed and vulnerable, and in her case having panic attacks on bathroom floors. She also shows how viciously attacking people because they are “in the public gaze” can come back and bite you when, by doing so, you put yourself in that same public gaze.

Reading about Gawker reminds me on the Buddhist teaching of the Six Realms, which you can take as either a literal depiction of where we can be reborn or (and this is my preference) a symbolic representation of the kinds of worlds we can create for ourselves. The world of Gawker (the Ashura realm?) seems strange and pitiful — like watching adult children bickering over nothing.

Update: Here’s the article where I first learned about the Gawker network of sites. There’s something distasteful to me about the whole enterprise, which has been described as a series of “digital-era sweatshops”.

Something different this week: my great great grandfather, who worked on whaling ships out of Dundee and also worked in diving bells. (Added later: don’t know his birthdate. He was married in 1859 and died in 1910).

What with all the gender-bending plasticizers we’re using and this recent study showing the effects of cellphone use by pregnant mothers on future generations I wonder whether we’re inadvertently conducting a massive unplanned experiment on our children.

I’m also relieved by the fact that I barely use a cellphone (or even a land line).

…mothers who did use the handsets were 54 per cent more likely to have children with behavioral problems and that the likelihood increased with the amount of potential exposure to the radiation. And when the children also later used the phones they were, overall, 80 per cent more likely to suffer from difficulties with behavior. They were 25 per cent more at risk from emotional problems, 34 per cent more likely to suffer from difficulties relating to their peers, 35 per cent more likely to be hyperactive, and 49 per cent more prone to problems with conduct.

Warning: Using a mobile phone while pregnant can seriously damage your baby - Health News, Health & Wellbeing - The Independent

(I’m in bed sick with a sore throat: hence the increased blogging level this morning).

The Times has a scary picture illustrating how much food the average US family throws out each month. It’s quite staggering. It’s certainly more than my family eats in a week, and perhaps closer to what we consume in two weeks.

Click on the image to see the full-size version.

Meanwhile, famine looms in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya. And “growth of the global food supply has slowed even as the population has continued to increase” while the US “is in the midst of slashing, by as much as 75 percent, its $59.5 million annual support for a global research network that focuses on improving crops vital to agriculture in poor countries.”

Back to that average 122 pounds of food thrown out per family per month: I always boggle at these stats because since my family throws out very little food (we eat left-overs for lunch, most days) that must mean that other families throw out more. For a supposedly religious nation the population of the US seems to think little about others.

Seen on Digg.com:

The missing obscenity?

The word “cockpit”!